Walter Pierce was a 6th grader at STEM Academy in East Orange when he participated in the first year of the Newark Young Entrepreneurs Academy in 2016. His company, Generational Comfort X, produced handmade neck pillows and his business plan earned him the honor of representing our program at the 2016 Saunders Scholars Competition in Rochester, NY.

Now a freshman at STEM Academy, Walter is interested in reuniting with our program and its mentors to explore a new business idea. We look forward to working with him this year and helping him to launch his new business. Below, Walter shares his experience in our program.

For more information about the Newark Young Entrepreneur's Academy please contact Program Manager Emily Manz.

Neck pillows by Walter's company, Generational Comfort X.

I applied to Newark YEA! because I was interested in joining programs. Learning about the program made me curious about business and what it would take to start one. Since I was younger at the time and didn’t already have business experience I did not know how hard it would actually be. Ultimately I chose to develop a line of neck pillows. While brainstorming different ideas I decided that I wanted to do something that would be beneficial to people and since I have a lot of elders in my family that suffer from neck pain the neck pillow idea seemed to be a great fit.

Walter & NRBP's President Chip Hallock at the Competition.

At the end of the program, I was selected to participate in the Saunders Scholars Competition which made me feel elated and proud. I was the youngest person in the Newark YEA! class that year and being selected to participate in the competition really gave me a confidence boost. Attending the competition was a great experience and opportunity for me to network with other participants and learn from them.

One of the highlights of attending the competition was the celebratory event at the end at Dave & Buster’s where we all got to come together and socialize.

Although I did not continue with the neck pillow business idea I learned what it takes to run a business and I would recommend Newark YEA! to my peers because it's a program that is really in depth and helps you understand the different aspects of business and finance so that you can prepare for your future.